CAR Newsletter - August 2023

Volume 34, Number 2 | Fiscal Year 2024 | Aug. 14, 2023

TOP STORY

• Introduction to the State Comptroller

PAYROLL

• Oklahoma Child Support: Medical Support Orders
• Employees Teleworking - Primary Location Outside of Oklahoma
• Employee Overpayments and OMES Form 94P Submission
• Employee Name and Social Security Number (SSN) Entries in Workday
• Compensation to Current and Former Employees, Including Settlements

HIGHER EDUCATION

• Transparency Reporting: Reminders

AGENCY NEWS

• Simplified & Improved Supplier/Payee Registration
• Late Payment to Vendors – New Interest Rate – FY 2024
• Jennie Pratt's Retirement

TRAINING

• Oracle Analytics Cloud (OAC)
• PayrollOrg
• Payroll Law
• Payroll Updates
• Form I-9 and E-Verify Webinars
• AGA Webinars

We are happy to announce that Felicia Clark was named State Comptroller on July 17, 2023.

Felicia has held various financial leadership positions with OMES during her six years with the state and is excited to bring her knowledge and experiences to the Central Accounting and Reporting team.

Please thoroughly review any medical support orders received on employees and respond accordingly. Child Support Services is required to send a National Medical Support Notice (NMSN) and an Income Withholding Order within two business days after the date CSS is notified of an employee who is an obligor in a child support case. Additionally, you may receive an NMSN for an employee who is the custodian of a child if the child support order requires that person to provide health insurance for that child.

Employers and insurers must comply with the NMSN. An NMSN consists of four documents, and the total amount withheld for child support, health insurance premiums and cash medical support cannot exceed the Consumer Credit Protection Act withholding limits. The Oklahoma Department of Human Services Child Support Employer Services Employer Handbook provides guidance for employers when an NMSN is received. Once an agency receives the NMSN, please follow the instructions and process the notice promptly. Any delays in processing the notice could result in a follow-up from CSS and potentially put the agency at risk of sanctions for failing to comply with the notice.

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, many state employees are working remotely. If employees are working remotely outside of Oklahoma, this requires the state, as the employer, to withhold income taxes for that state, as applicable. This requires the state, as the employer, to withhold state unemployment taxes for that state, as applicable. If an agency has employees working outside of Oklahoma, please contact OMES Central Accounting and Reporting at payrollreporting@omes.ok.gov so that we can determine the required withholding and reporting for those employees.

State agencies are encouraged to review and handle employee overpayments as soon as possible so the adjustment can be recorded in the quarter in which the overpayment occurred. Overpayments not reported to the retirement systems in a timely manner may result in less than a full recovery of funds for the agency and may cause employee retirement calculations to be incorrect. Overpayments may be due to incorrect hours paid, wage amounts or benefit allowance payments.

When submitting the Form 94P, please do not provide copies of personal checks. The form allows the agency to enter the amount recovered. Additional backup data is not required. Please submit the form using the employee ID and do not use the employee's SSN.

If an agency has questions, needs assistance or would like the form reviewed prior to requesting the overpayment from the employee, email payrollreporting@omes.ok.gov. The final form is to be submitted to us only after the agency has recovered the overpaid amount.

When entering a new employee’s name and Social Security number or updating a current employee’s name, please verify the name and SSN entered is exactly as it appears on the employee’s Social Security card. This is critical in reporting not only the W-2 wages at year-end but also the Affordable Care Act-required health offer/coverage information.

If the name and SSN do not match Social Security Administration (SSA) records, the employee’s wages may not be credited to their Social Security account. Additionally, if the name and SSN do not match, the employee may not be reported correctly for ACA purposes which could result in an IRS letter to the employee for possible lack of health coverage or an IRS letter to the agency for not offering coverage.

Beginning Sept. 8, 2007, the SSA updated the Social Security card. The number holder’s name will always be printed on two lines, with the last name printed directly below the first and middle names. If you receive a prior version from an employee and are unsure, please ask the employee to verify their first, middle and last names.

Additionally, compound names do not need to be hyphenated. If an employee provides a name with an apparent compound or multiple last names, ask the employee which name is the beginning of the last name and which (if any) is the middle name.

An employee’s name can be updated in Workday@OK from the employee’s profile page > Personal > Names > Edit. The entry for Legal Name must match the name on the Social Security card. A Preferred Name may be entered if the employee goes by something other than the Legal Name.

SSN changes can be initiated in Workday@OK by either the employee or HR. Legal name changes will be routed to OMES CAR for review and approval. If the legal name and SSN do not match the SSA record, the change will be denied.

All compensation to employees and former employees, no matter what form, constitutes wages unless specifically excluded by the Internal Revenue Code. This includes stipends, allowances, employee lawsuits and settlements, gifts, prizes, awards and fringe benefits, to name a few. Before compensation is given to employees or former employees, agencies must determine the correct method of payment (payroll vs. accounts payable) and reporting required (W-2, 1099 or none). In an audit, the IRS will focus on the reason for the payment.

NOTE: Attorney’s fees paid on a settlement are reportable to the plaintiff if the settlement is a reportable settlement. For attorney fees paid through accounts payable, the amount must be reported to alicia.reel@omes.ok.gov. The attorney will automatically receive a 1099-MISC reporting the amount in Box 10 if the correct account code is used on the voucher payment. The plaintiff reporting requires a manual entry and must be reported to OMES.

If the payment settles a lawsuit, the auditor will focus on the basis of the lawsuit. The IRS has a recorded webinar that provides valuable information regarding the taxability of lawsuits and settlements. Agency payroll, finance, human resources and legal departments should obtain the knowledge needed to accurately process compensation to employees or former employees. Agencies are responsible for complying with IRS requirements for withholding and reporting.

If an agency has a settlement agreement that requires the payment be processed through accounts payable instead of the payroll system to expedite processing and the payment is reportable as compensation, then applicable federal, state and FICA taxes must be remitted to OMES on the same day the settlement to the individual is processed. If taxes are not withheld on the payment, the agency must gross up the amount and pay both the employee and employer share of taxes. The employee’s record will be updated for year-end reporting. If additional guidance is needed, please email payrollreporting@omes.ok.gov.

NOTE: The IRS has determined that Oklahoma public school teachers receiving payments from a state agency are to be treated as employees of the state. As such, any payments to teachers need to be evaluated to determine if the payments should be considered wages. If so, the amounts must be paid through the payroll system, not accounts payable, to be reported on Form W-2 by the paying agency.

Transparency (OpenBooks) files are due no later than the fifth business day of the following month. Files must be sent promptly in order to comply with monthly FTE reporting as well as statutory requirements for posting the data to the website. The following are specific field data reminders:

• Jobcode – Must be a valid OMES job code. Call OMES HCM Classification and Compensation at 405-521-2177 for assistance with job codes.
• Hours – Must be an employee’s accurate hours. The hours reported here will also be used for FTE reporting, along with the pay frequency entered in the file.
• Warrant Number – Must contain the required leading 2. This is the actual warrant number processed through the state’s financial system and paid through the treasurer’s office.
• Pay Date – Must be the actual warrant issue date processed through the state’s financial system and paid through the treasurer’s office.

The Supplier/Payee Registration process continues to evolve. We heard your feedback and have made some big changes!

Supplier Registration and Payee Registration are together again! This reorganization allows us to streamline processes and create consistency and efficiency. While you may see temporary delays as we respond to the change, it will result in a much-improved registration experience. To date, we’ve:

• Eliminated 26 fields of information from what we previously required.
• Changed to simple verbiage that is easy to follow.
• Reduced and combined options to eliminate confusion.
• Removed requirements from the registration process that were repeated at the CPO buyer level, such as COI and SOS.
• Updated training materials to reflect all changes.

As we move forward, there will be changes in processes and previously allowed exceptions. We are transitioning payees to utilize the self-service eSupplier Portal. We appreciate your patience and cooperation as we work to make that happen and strive to best meet your needs.

The FY 2024 interest rate applicable to late payments to vendors has been set at 5.00% per annum, or $0.013 per $100 per day, which will be in effect July 1, 2023, through June 30, 2024. This interest rate is provided by the State Treasurer based on the average interest rate for 30-day time deposits of state funds during the last calendar quarter of the last preceding fiscal year (O.S. 62 § 34.71& 34.72 and O.S. 74 § 500.16A. and OMES Prompt Payment Rules/Regulations).

After 28 years of service to OMES Central Accounting and Reporting, Jennie Pratt is retiring. Many accounting and finance employees statewide have worked with Jennie over the years. We are sad to see her go but wish her a very happy retirement. If you would like to say goodbye to Jennie, there will be a retirement event on Sept. 28 from 2-4 p.m. at the Will Rogers Building in Conference Rm 214/216. For more information, email Stephanie Brown at stephanie.brown@omes.ok.gov.

OAC (Oracle Analytics Cloud) is the state standard for financial reporting. This tool allows users who have access to PeopleSoft Financials the ability to create ad hoc reports to meet their specific needs. OAC allows for better visualization, empowering users to explore PeopleSoft Financials data in a way that better fits their business requirements. 

Select this link for further information and a quick demo.

If you would like to learn more about this system, email tanner.wallace@omes.ok.gov

Topic: Education & Certification
Date: Various
Time: On Demand

For more information, please visit their website.

Live Online Seminars Presented by Fred Pryor Seminars

For more information, please visit their website.

Live Online Webinar Presented by myCPE

For more information, please visit their website.

Multiple webinar choices and dates:

Form I-9: An overview of the Form I-9 requirements, including step-by-step instructions on how to complete each section, acceptable documents, retention and storage.

E-Verify overview: An overview of the E-Verify program including how the program works, key features, how to enroll, employer responsibilities, program highlights and a demonstration of the program.

E-Verify in 30: A quick overview of the E-Verify program including what it is, how to enroll and key features.

E-Verify for existing users: A detailed overview of the E-Verify program specifically for existing users. Topics include Form I-9, user roles, creating a case, case alerts, how to handle a TNC and common user mistakes.

For more information on the webinars, please visit the USCIS website.

Looking for convenient and affordable training? AGA webinars make earning CPE hours easy.

All webinars, unless denoted with a members-only icon, are open to anyone. They feature experts speaking on emergent issues to keep you in the loop on hot topics in auditing, ethics, governmental accounting, internal controls, performance and more.

AGA tentative dates (some virtual, some mixed in person and virtual):

1. Aug. 23, 2023.
2. Sept. 20, 2023.
3. Oct. 18, 2023.
4. Nov. 15, 2023 – fall PDT.
5. Jan. 24, 2024.
6. Feb. 21, 2024.
7. March 20, 2024.
8. April 24, 2024 – spring PDT.
9. May 22, 2024.

Check out their website for more information.